When Democrats took control of the legislature for the first time in four decades, they told voters they would solve the state’s budget problems.
With the four-month legislative session’s end Monday, they are halfway to making good on that promise.
Now, they just have to persuade voters to approve a plan in November that asks them to give up about $3.1 billion in constitutionally mandated refunds over the next five years.
Voters will also be asked to approve about $2.1 billion in loans to improve roads, bridges and dilapidated schools.
Regardless of what happens in the fall, there is no question that the bipartisan budget reform package was the Democrats’ biggest achievement in the 118-day legislative session.
If voters do approve the deal, supporters say the state will have the money it needs to reinvest in long-neglected roads, education, health care and other vital needs. The alternatives, they say, include shutting down community colleges, kicking the elderly out of nursing homes and closing state parks.
“You can either vote no and then anticipate some very, very difficult, very draconian cuts that we would have to make,” said Senate President Pro Tem Peter Groff. “If you vote yes, it gives a chance to reinvest in Colorado.”
But opponents such as House Republican leader Joe Stengel call the referendum “a bait-and-switch” because the money the ballot measure brings will free general-fund money to be spent elsewhere.
Lawmakers balanced next year’s budget. But planning for the future proved to be a monumental challenge when the Democrats took over in January.
Years of cuts had left the state budget $1.1 billion leaner. There had been no general-fund money to build or repair roads for several years. More than $175 million had been cut from state colleges.
This year, lawmakers were staring down several hundred million dollars more in cuts. While revenue began rebounding, the state couldn’t keep most of the cash because of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), which limits how much revenue the state can keep.
At one point, legislators were facing cuts of about $341 million this year and next while having to refund about $608 million to taxpayers under TABOR.
The $341 million hole lawmakers stared down in January was filled in with luck – a computer error – and accounting tricks.
But lawmakers estimated they would have to make about $561 million in cuts over the next five years without help from taxpayers. And the Democrats realized early on that jamming through a partisan plan to change TABOR would doom the measure at the polls.
They needed the support of a prominent fiscal conservative. They needed Republican Gov. Bill Owens.
The governor’s support didn’t come easily. It meant Democrats had to scale back.
“We were stuck with at least working around the parameters maybe that he set,” said Groff, a key player in the budget deal.
The plan, which asks average taxpayers to give up about $300 each over the first four years, is closer to a proposal Owens unveiled in December than one championed by Democratic House Speaker Andrew Romanoff.
“I think the governor’s pragmatic approach to what would pass in November was the controlling factor in reaching the compromise with the legislature,” said Owens’ chief lobbyist, Chris Castilian.
Romanoff said what’s important is that the plan passed with Republican support.
Staff writer Chris Frates can be reached at cfrates@denverpost.com or 303-820- 1633.
